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flyinghatchet
Apr 7, 2003, 9:47 PM
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Awhile ago I was reading the passthepitonspete article on this site, and part of it talked about how he "brings big wall luxury to a new level" with his AC*DC blasting on the stereo, sun shower, etc. So I (in my neverending curiousness), as a non-aid climber wanted to know how far have you gone to bring home luxuries to the big wall?
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smithclimber
Apr 7, 2003, 10:30 PM
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I actually bring a spoon rather than just eating off of my nut tool.
I'm way spoiled. :)
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base104
Apr 8, 2003, 12:02 AM
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Man, that's stylin..A SPOON. I've eaten off of so many pitons I can't count; or worse, just used my filthy fingers to lap up the beefaroni. Kinda like feeding the dogs: the food doesn't last very long around dinner time. A big can lasts like fifteen seconds. Burp.
Mark
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passthepitonspete
Apr 8, 2003, 12:19 AM
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While opening a can with a hammer and piton is OK if you happen to have a rock ledge, it only took one portaledge wall to realize that a can opener was the Better Way.
And much though I love the rugged look of eating off a piton, my Big Wall Spoon is part of my gear list. Always.
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beyond_gravity
Apr 8, 2003, 2:44 AM
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Using a Piton as a can opener? I don’t know, dude...don't you usually bring your Swiss army knife, or cheap rip off with you on the wall? Almost all of them have a can opener...just seems that everyone forgets that they have more then a knife blade!
Speaking of spoons, I remember reading a mini epic in climbing magazine about a guy that fell into a crevasse on Rainier and sharpened spoons and tried to climb up the crevasse walls. Impressive.
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simzboardr
Apr 8, 2003, 2:53 AM
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Or you could be really thrifty and buy those handy dandy cans witha pop top...saves you the hassel of the knife and the piton. The tabs don't even way that much..lol
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wallrat
Apr 8, 2003, 7:16 PM
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You know those mugs with the built in coffee press? GET ONE!!! also, music, clean socks...Baby wipes are killer for a quick 'shower' to keep your partner from pitchin' you off the ledge because yer feet stink too bad. What else do you need???
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base104
Apr 8, 2003, 10:32 PM
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I never claimed to use a piton to open cans, and in fact don't remember ever doing so except maybe in a pinch around camp. I just said we used them to eat off of on walls. Of course we carried can openers. What were we? Philistines?
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copperhead
Apr 9, 2003, 2:48 AM
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http://www.rockclimbing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=22224
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apollodorus
Apr 9, 2003, 7:47 AM
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I thought this topic was for luxuries on the wall, not necessities. A spoon? A can opener (Swiss Army knife)? Baby wipes?
To fully enjoy the great outdoors, you need at least a stove and coffee press. Otherwise, you'll be reduced to using your expensive coffee as "dip" (copenhagen), putting a pinch between your cheek and gum (a la Walt Garrison), and then spitting up brown mucilage all over your partner's rope.
And Baby Wipes are good for cleaning your hands, but the Solar Wall Shower is better for a general cleansing of the rank/putrid body that you'll have after the first few pitches. One 2 liter soda bottle (standard wall bottle) gives you a brief, but refreshing mimicry of life on the ground. Or, you can just use the water bottle to shampoo your hair and shave. This is nice if your partner brings a camera, so you don't look like a lunatic Jack Nicholson in "The Shining".
This next is still BWT, but I am very confident that it will become BWR (Big Wall Reality) within the next couple of months: BBQ wood hauled up and lit on fire to bring that camping feel to the Big Wall. As long as you have the fire, you might as well upgrade from Weiner Roast to Big Wall Southern Style BBQ Pork Ribs. Naturally, you DON'T bbq on your portaledge, only on a real ledge. And then sweep the ashes into your Wallflower the next day, instead of using kitty litter. Get rid of the evidence. Hide your tracks. Pretend it never happened. That sort of thing.
A blaster with a CD player is best: pirate MP3's, then convert them to 44.1 kHz WAV files and burn them onto shiny plastic discs. The radio reception in most wall climbing meccas is bad, so you have to rely on your own dance-mix, Beethoven symphony, or whatever else drives your partner out of his mind so he finishes his pitches as fast as he can.
Basically, if you're going to go to the trouble to haul a bunch of crap up with you, you might as well bring the Good Life along, too. Sure, for every 24 extra pounds of junk you bring, you add one day on the wall. But, how often do you get to be on the wall? Why short-change yourself on the holiday, just so you can say you finished it off as fast as possible?
That's your boss talking, dude.
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passthepitonspete
Apr 9, 2003, 6:01 PM
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He means the Bar-B-Q will become "Big Wall Fact" - BWF.
This got me to thinking - will your MP3's play OK on my ghetto blaster? And you'd better burn yourself another LZ4, cuz I've about played the livin' bejeepers out of it all winter long.
I have since accumulated virtually ever AC-DC CD ever produced [virtually means "not all"] but we could use a bigger selection.
Hey! Can we do a Firefall off of El Cap Spire after we finish cooking? You know, like they used to do off of Yosemite Falls?
Also, I was thinking "magnesium". Magnesium and El Cap Spire. Does this give you any ideas? We need something to do while drinking our Czech beer. [We'll hide it when we take more Guinness Beer Professional Sponsorship Photos]
[I've got the bucket o' golf balls and the 3 wood ready....]
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copperhead
Apr 9, 2003, 6:57 PM
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You guys are frucking pathetic! Forget all the bullschit and go climbing. In the time it takes you to climb a route and haul all of your schit up there, others would have climbed two, if not three different routes.
The firefall was not off of the Falls Wall; it was off of the Firefall Wall, hence the name. Pretty simple, eh? But then again, in Pete's mind, El Cap is the only wall on the planet...
Ps- coffee tastes like schit and you don't need a stove to drink beer.
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base104
Apr 9, 2003, 8:31 PM
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I would never dis Pete for his style of climbing. It's a free country and so is Canada. As far back as '81 or '82 when I did my first El Cap route there were guys that were taking tons of food with them and just stylin' up there, sometimes taking whole days off. It was by no means common, and the rest of us just thought it was a pleasurable novelty. No hard feelings, even over twenty years ago, although nobody had taken it to the lengths of Pete; he's broken new ground.
If he's having fun, then great. I could never do it, though. I'm too impatient.
The most I ever did in this vein was take a butane stove on Mescalito (back when it was MINT). We had no way to cook on it and were freezing our sacks off. We set it up on the Bismarck and just toasted our hands until the gas ran out. Hah!
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coyoteblues
Apr 10, 2003, 12:37 AM
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"Luxury" is taking two baby wipes for each for each anticipted dump instead of just one. :D And a piton is truly a multi-function device in the hands of a wall climber.
You know what I love about climbing? It's that great experience of being in nature and away from the "normalities" of everyday life. {sarcasm on} I just love sharing that experience with drunken neighbors blaring music out of their ghettoblaster. Makes me feel right at home. {sarcasm off}
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hollyclimber
Apr 10, 2003, 8:31 PM
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You guys are so entertaining to all of us while we are stuck in town....and while we are climbing too. For my luxuries, I can't think of any that I bring. Maybe the luxury of a pink pig-but that was last year, that pig is in the trash and I am done with that.
I find Pete's antics pretty entertaining myself, so I hope we share the wall again this year so that I can listen to tunes and share some leftover Old E.
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passthepitonspete
Apr 11, 2003, 7:40 AM
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I topped out on Lunar Eclipse a day before Holly and her partner finished Zodiac. I left them a "care package."
What do you mean, Holly, your pink pig is chucked? It was your trademark, visible from thousands of feet above! I mean, that piggy was [pink]PINK![/pink] Is that little porker toast?
Now, as for the other comment. Did he say "pathetic"?
Sheesh.
I shall have you know that I carry the Chris Mac SuperTopo Seal of Endorsement. What appears "pathetic" to one man can appear "inspiring" to another.
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wallrat
Apr 11, 2003, 3:38 PM
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Hey C'head, give PTPP a break! Why not make a wall into a Vertical Vacation????? We spend thousands of dollars to buy all this stuff, and tons of effort to get up a line, what's the point in doing the Bataan Deathmarch to get to the top, only to haul it all down and throw everything into yer trunk? I can't think of anyplace on earth more spectacular than half way up the Captain, hanging out on a ledge, watching the sun go down. Sleep in, make coffee, start late, quit early...that's my motto.
For me, more time on the wall=more fun.
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morganesque
Apr 11, 2003, 4:47 PM
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Luxuries!? well... while I sit on the side of this wall writing to you on my laptop... I can't really think of any real luxuries. Maybe I'll bring something un-necessary with me next time.
Just Jokes!!
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hollyclimber
Apr 11, 2003, 5:07 PM
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Here is what I need guys...
We need some pink vinyl. Believe me, I have been looking. I want to get some and ask Russ to make me a new pig. See my old pig was just spray-painted pink and it was kind of messy. The paint rubbed off everywhere (luckily not too badly on the wall, mostly just on the east ledges). And, while I WAS sporting hot pink last year, light petal pink is so much sweeter!
So, if anyone has any ideas for me on places to look for pink vinyl, do tell!!
That would be my true luxury item. :)
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copperhead
Apr 11, 2003, 5:46 PM
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In reply to: Hey C'head, give PTPP a break!
Never.
I have my reasons and will elaborate on them soon.
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socalclimber
Apr 11, 2003, 8:23 PM
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In reply to: PTPP I've got the bucket o' golf balls and the 3 wood ready....
Hardly an original idea. This stunt was originaly perfomed by early wall masters Hugh Burton and Steve Sutton. As I recall, it got them a ton of attention from the Park Service. Another classic Burton/Sutton incident was the All Beer Ascent of The Nose. No water. I think the whole route took them around 2 1/2 days. Maybe copperhead or Fish could elaborate on the details.
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iamthewallress
Apr 11, 2003, 11:21 PM
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Hollyclimber...If you can't find pink vinyl perhaps you can find pink plasti-dip or at least whip some up by mixing white and red? I inherited my bf's old pig. Duct-taped gaping holage only begins to describe it. Anyway, Some more seam grip, duct tape, and a full coating of pastidip and it's not really like new, but it will probably repel more water than it would have before. I've hauled it to Dinner Ledge (read: nasty high friction hauling, but only for 3 pitches) since covering it in plastidip, and it's holding up well. The downsides are that it's streaky and that it adds weight to the bag. The upside, if you have a newish pig is that you'll probably get a little extra wear out of it.
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copperhead
Apr 12, 2003, 7:23 AM
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http://www.geocities.com/ewokker/writing/pinkblop.html
use pink duct tape...
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alpinelynx
Apr 13, 2003, 6:48 PM
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In reply to: http://www.geocities.com/ewokker/writing/pinkblop.html
Thank you for that link to the TR of your last wall. Was the staple suit at all useful and how can I make one if it was? Can you provide an explanation as to how you hauled that acetylene torch - with no less than 13 links to a variety of vaguely related topics and please include special directions on how I can construct my 111908745:1 hauling system for it.
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hollyclimber
Apr 14, 2003, 10:07 PM
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Plasti-dip sounds like a reasonable idea. I don't know about the pink duct tape...can you even find it? I am a colored duct tape lover, and I haven't seen it.
Iamthewallress-
Did you spray yours on? I would have to use the liquid or whatever it is that comes in the can to mix it. They do have both red and white. So, I am guessing I would have to "paint" it on. Did you put plasti-dip on OVER the duct tape repairs?
Up until now, I have been using just duct-tape for repairs, and we have a lot of bags so we throw a bag out if it gets too bad to duct tape.
Maybe I will have a pink pig this fall after all...
Holly
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